5 players who are entering their final days on the Blue Jays

Zach Pop

Pop is somebody that we've touched on before it pieces like this one. It's getting to the point where you have to wonder what kind of dirt he has on someone in the Blue Jays front office. It feels like every time he takes the mound, bad things come.

In 66 appearances across the past two years, Pop has a combined 6.16 ERA, 5.60 FIP and 68 ERA+ in 57 innings of work. He doesn't strike many batters out, he can't keep the ball in the ballpark and walks bite him on occasion as well.

Outside of a decent 13-game stretch in the month of May, Pop has been borderline unwatchable in every single month of the season so far. His June ERA was 6.97 in 14 games; July's EA was 6.30 in 11 games; August's ERA was 7.27 in 10 games and he's currently got an 18.00 ERA in two September games.

Of course, ERA is not the quite the tell-all stat like followers of the game used to think it was, but in Pop's case it's a darn good indicator of the player we're working with here. He seems to do okay in short stints, but even in those instances, it's touch and go.

It was clear to see why the Blue Jays gave Pop another look last year after he looked so strong post-trade in the 2022 season. He had a 3.11 FIP in 17 outings after coming over from the Marlins and appeared to be a reliable relief option in the making. Instead, he's just gone into a full-blown meltdown that doesn't seem to have an end in sight. The Jays need to give up on the experiment and cut their losses before this gets any more embarrassing for all involved.

In the immediate future, Pop is going to become arbitration-eligible for the first time in his career. A non-tender seems like the most likely outcome.